On the road again!: My Week of Birthday! Florida, Feb 14 -21

We left Vero on Valentine's Day because Megan and Jackie flew to Florida from Massachusetts to pull a surprise visit on their grandparents. We cleaned the bed room, made dinner for everyone and left Cal and Alice around 3. They seemed a bit sad that we were leaving and seemed puzzled that we had decided to go back to Michael and Nancy's. We said it was for a special Valentine's Day dinner. Megan and Jackie arrived about an hour after we left and really pulled off a huge surprise.

We spent four nights in Lake Worth with Michael and Nancy, really relaxing and having fun. On the second day we went to Green Cay to go birding. We got caught in two downpours on the boardwalk, but had a great time. We saw the "usual" birds for there, but have never seen so many roseate spoonbills in one place and so close up. Beautiful. Of course there were lots of ibis, heron, red-winged blackbirds, storks, cormorants, gallinules, blue-winged teal, sora...... But, the spoonbills stole the show.

Roseate Spoonbills

Michael, Nancy, Mark

Afterwards, we went to visit Noreen in Boynton Beach where she and John were lying tile. The four of us went to Fresh Catch on the inland waterway and had a lovely fish dinner.
On the third day there, Nancy and I went to have pedicures which Nancy treated me to for my birthday. The owner of the salon was celebrating her first anniversary of owning the business and had stayed up late cooking Vietnamese food for her clients, so we also had fresh spring rolls while being pampered.

Pampered and pedicured!

I had a wonderful 66th (!!!!- how can it be????) birthday in West Palm Beach. It started with a wonderful fruit cup for breakfast and just got better and better. I was thoroughly spoiled all day long. We went with Michael and Nancy to Palm Beach at mid-day. We went to the Palm Beach History Museum in a beautiful building, the original courthouse from 1917. The special exhibit was about Florida and the Civil War. It was all very interesting and well done. Then, we went to downtown Palm Beach; the weather was in the mid-70s with a breeze, but not a cloud in the sky. We sat outside and had lunch at Barney's. (I had mahi mahi - I have had 3 wonderful days of fish, fish, fish)
    I am feeling very loved. I chatted with Nick, David, Willy, Jecca, Otis and Sage, not to mention an incredible amount of email and Facebook best wishes. (I have responded to each one - whew!) Mark gave me some beautiful silver earrings and a Mason & Pearson hair brush. But, mostly, he, Michael and Nancy gave me a perfect day.
   Then, we came back to Vero for several days to be with the folks. We had another birthday dinner for me - this time at 12A Buoy in Fort Pierce with John, Cal and Alice. It was delicious! And, we all had a good time.
       We also went to see Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang at the Riverside Theater in Vero Beach. We were thoroughly entertained and amused. It was very well cast and well directed.